1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a computer system having a heat emitting device, more particularly, to a portable computer having a heat emitting device incorporated therein for emitting heat generated by a central processing unit (CPU) to outside of the portable computer through air ventilation holes formed on a keyboard.
2. Related Art
Generally, when a computer system is in use and its central processing unit (CPU) is in operation, heat will be released which results in a relatively high temperature rise (e.g., 95.degree. C. to 130.degree. C.). Such a high temperature rise typically disables operation of the computer system. Therefore, it is necessary to install cooling devices for quickly removing heat generated during the operation of the computer CPU. For conventional desktop computers, an add-in card type cooling fan is generally installed to effectively transfer heat from the computer CPU to the outside of the computer enclosure. For most portable computers such as laptops and notebooks, where there is a very limited interior space to accommodate such a fan and there is limited power supply from battery sets to support operation of such a fan, however, a heat dissipating device in a form of heat sink, namely a block or plate made of high heat conductivity material is generally installed in the computer enclosure to dissipate the heat generated from the computer CPU.
Conventional heat dissipating devices for portable computers which come in many different designs, are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,583,746 for Heat Sink Assembly For A Central Processing Unit Of A Computer issued to Wang, U.S. Pat. No. 5,559,675 for Computer CPU Heat Dissipating And Protecting Device issued to Hsieh et al., U. S. Pat. No. 5,557,500 for Heat Dissipating Arrangement In A Portable Computer, U.S. Pat. No. 5,526,875 for Cooling Device For CPU issued to Lin, U.S. Pat. No. 5,473,508 for Focused CPU Air Cooling System Including High Efficiency Heat Exchanger issued to Porter, U.S. Pat. No. 5,461,540 for Heat Dissipating Device For Personal Computers issued to Lee, U.S. Pat. No. 5,430,609 for Microprocessor Cooling In A Portable Computer issued to Kikinis, U.S. Pat. No. 5,423,375 for CPU Heat Sink Mounting Structure issued to Chiou, U.S. Pat. No. 5,409,352 for CPU Heat Dissipating Device issued to Lin, U.S. Pat. No. 5,331,510 for Electronic Equipment And Computer With Heat Pipe issued to Ouchi, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,313,362 for Packaging Structure Of Small Size Computer issued to Hatada. Generally, the heat dissipating device has a heat emitting plate mounted on the computer CPU in order to transfer the heat generated by the CPU to the outside of the computer enclosure by means of heat conduction.
Recent improvements in the compactness and computer speed of portable computers have, however, rendered many of the conventional heat dissipating designs ineffective because most heat emitting plates cannot fully protect the computer CPU from a greater amount of heat generated by the high performance and high-speed CPU. As a result, many portable computers today may still suffer the occasional disruption from the heat generated from the computer CPU that has not been sufficiently dissipated in the interior environment of the computer enclosure. Further, it has also been my observation that many conventional heat dissipating designs do not effectively transfer the heat generated from the computer CPU to the outside of the computer enclosure. That is, in many conventional heat dissipating designs, the heat dissipated by the heat emitting plate still remains within the computer enclosure and cannot be transferred to the outside of the computer enclosure. Accordingly, further improvements in the heat emitting devices for portable computers can still be contemplated.